The gate is so close now…
I grab the edge of the truck bed with all my strength and haul myself up and over.
This is going to hurt,I think, as I go airborne.
I close my eyes, bracing for the impact.It comes a lot sooner than I expected.
“Oomph!”someone grunts at the same time as me.
I open my eyes.
And stare into the face of the most handsome man I’ve ever seen.
TWO
Jameson
Night Grove Fallsis supposed to feel like home.Itismy home.Has been my whole life.The mountains still rise the same way they always have, jagged and proud, cutting against the sky.The air still smells like pine and rain and woodsmoke.The river still runs cold and fast at the edge of town.
On the surface, nothing has changed.
But I have.
I roll my stiff shoulder as I move along the tree line, the old injury twinging with every step.It’s a familiar pain now.One I earned overseas.One that ended my career in the Army and sent me straight back to the town I once couldn’t wait to escape.
I loved the Army.The structure.The brotherhood.The missions.I felt like I was helping people, like I was making a difference, like what I was doing mattered.I was good at it, too.Damn good.For the first time in my life, I knew exactly who I was and what I was meant to do.
Then, on my last deployment, everything went wrong.
A blast.A medic shouting my name.The sharp, blinding heat of pain.My bear howling in my head.
And just like that, it was over.
The doctors called it “career-ending.”I called it hell.
Coming back to Night Grove Falls felt like a punishment at first.Like I was being benched while the world kept moving without me.But then I learned the truth about what had been happening here while I was gone.
When my Alpha, Foster, first told me about the cult, I was surprised.Night Grove Falls, and this area is nothing but small, sleepy towns.Nothing ever happened here when I was younger, but that’s changed.
Foster told me about the disappearances, the kidnappings, the growing darkness creeping beneath the surface of this quiet little town.
Then he asked me to help.
Told me about their idea for Midnight Haven, a rescue and protection group formed in secret here in town.A safe place for anyone trying to escape the cult’s grip or who needed help.The Alphas told me they needed leadership, someone trained, someone who wouldn’t hesitate.
Someone like me.
So, I took the job.
Being in charge of Midnight Haven gave me a purpose again.Helping people.Using my skills to keep everyone safe.It’s given me something to fight for.I may not be on a battlefield anymore, but this is war.It’s just as real, and just as deadly.
My bear stirs beneath my skin as I patrol the outer perimeter near the cult’s land.He’s restless tonight.Pacing.Snarling.
We need our mate,he reminds me, as he always does.
“I know,” I mutter under my breath.
We’ve both felt it for months now, that pulling ache of emptiness.The sense that someone important is missing.That our other half is out there somewhere in the world.
